Annual Meeting, April 21, 2018 – AAUP Louisiana Conference

Louisiana Conference AAUP
Minutes of Annual Meeting 21 April, 2018
LSU-Alexandria
Leslie Bary, Secretary

The meeting was called to order at 1 PM by President Ravi Rau, who submitted a report of his activities in AY 2017-2018 (attached/appended, to be posted to website as AAUP State Conference Newsletter–April 21, 2018). Attending were Hugh Wilson, Vice-President, Brooks Ellwood, Past President, Leslie Bary, Secretary, Sudhir Trivedi, Chair, Committee A, Nigel Gwee, Tom Miller, and Brian Salvatore. Treasurer Michael Homan submitted a written report.

We have over $17,000 in our account, of which some $1,000 a year is contributed by AAUP National. On behalf of the now dissolved Faculty Defense Committee, Sudhir Trivedi presented to us a check for $10,123.97. It was moved and voted (7 in favor, 1 abstention) that since the bulk of these funds were raised by faculty at Southern University-Baton Rouge, the new AAUP chapter at SUBR will be the first recipient of a portion of these funds. President Ravi Rau pointed out that AAUP National also has funds for chapter development, that can be applied for each year and that Louisiana AAUP chapters should take advantage of.

Secretary Leslie Bary reported that formal minutes were not kept of our April 2017 meeting, but that a major topic of discussion there was the Conference website. That website has been revived, refurbished and updated, and is maintained by Susanna Holmes of Optima Web Services. The Secretary has been functioning as liaison to Ms. Holmes, who handles the technical aspects of web maintenance. The new web address is aaupla.org.

The Conference has nominated Brian Salvatore as representative and first-time participant in the AAUP Summer Institute, to be held at the University of New Hampshire in July. This workshop teaches organizing skills. The original plan had been for the Conference to cover registration and Brian his flight, but ASC scholarships are also available for registration. If Brian wins the scholarship, the Conference can cover his travel costs, which will help him and also save the Conference money. (Leslie attended in 2015 with an ASC scholarship and her chapter covered travel; Brian’s university does not have an AAUP chapter.)

Membership in the Conference has increased this academic year from 153 to 163, and we hope to recruit new members in AY 2018-2019. This will be accomplished in part by holding an educational and recruiting event each semester. Tentatively planned is a Fall visit to UL Lafayette, LSU/Southern (Baton Rouge) and if possible, North Louisiana chapters by Christopher Newfield (Professor of English, University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of notable book The Great Mistake, on the defunding of public universities and what to do about it). Henry Giroux (McMaster University Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest) was mentioned as a possible visitor for spring; it was also pointed out that national officers and committee chairs of AAUP are available as well and can make presentations of broad interest. For example, Howard Bunsis’ financial analyses of universities could be of high interest for North Louisiana campuses.

Elections for 2018-2020 officers and Executive Committee members were held, with the following results:

President, Leslie Bary (UL Lafayette)
Vice-President, Hugh Wilson (Grambling)
Secretary, Sudhir Trivedi (Southern-BR)
Treasurer, Michael Homan (Xavier)
At-large member of the Executive Committee, Kevin Cope (LSU-BR)
Immediate Past President, Ravi Rau (LSU-BR)

Committee chairs are:
Committee A, Sudhir Trivedi (Southern-BR)
Chapter Services, Brian Salvatore (LSU-Shreveport)
Outreach and Communication, Dayne Sherman (SELU)

The meeting was adjourned at 3 PM.

Respecfully Submitted,

LESLIE BARY
Secretary 2016-2018